Use of multiple optical channels has become prevalent in applications ranging from data communications to optical imaging in response to a need for increased system bandwidth. In addition, emerging technologies, such as optical computing, require the use of multiple optical channels to provide sufficient throughput. In many of these applications, the multiple optical channels take the form of optical fibers which communicate with other devices or other fibers of the system.
In fiber applications, alignment must be sufficiently precise to permit proper orientation among optical components, such as a fiber core of 8 microns in diameter, for example. Any misalignment between the fiber core and other system components can create an unacceptably large loss in optical signal. Coupling of optical fibers imposes alignment tolerances on the order of magnitude of the wavelength of light, for example 0.5 microns in the visible regime. Moreover, for many applications a large number of optical fibers need to be accurately aligned with other system components to effect efficient coupling between the fibers and the system components. As optical systems include a greater number of elements, the precision with which each element must be positioned relative to neighboring elements becomes more stringent in order to achieve the overall required system performance.
A fiber array provides a desirable way for handling multiple optical fibers while attempting to effect control of alignment tolerances among the fibers. In certain applications it becomes highly desirable to stack linear fiber arrays to create a two-dimensional array of optical fibers. In order to create a two-dimensional array affording acceptable alignment of the fibers, each of the linear fiber arrays must be precisely oriented relative to one another. At the same time, integration or minimization of the number of components is an important engineering design principle in the creation of such arrays. Decreasing the number of parts decreases the number of degrees of freedom of orientation among components, thereby simplifying product assembly and improving the ability to align such parts to yield an assembly that achieves desired positioning tolerances. Thus, a need exists for an efficient alignment structure to register linear fiber arrays to one another to provide a two-dimensional array of optical fibers.